Probation Firm Gets A Review

Audit Gives Overall Pass Grade, Suggests Some Improvements

February 16, 1998|By KEVIN KRAUSE Staff Writer

The company that provides misdemeanor probation services to Palm Beach County has been doing a good job overall, but needs to improve the information in case files and provide more job and education referrals, an audit of the company's files found.

However, the president of Pride Integrated Services Inc., which has had a contract with the county since 1993, said such referrals are being made and that they consider them a priority.

``Education is very important to us,'' said Anne Hilf, president of the nonprofit company.

Hilf said she will present her reply to the audit, completed in December, as soon as today.

Diana Cunningham, executive director of the county's Criminal Justice Commission, said she did not want to comment on the audit until the Probation Advisory Board meets to discuss its findings.

The advisory board requested the audit of a sampling of Pride case files from its West Palm Beach, Belle Glade and Delray Beach offices.

During a two-week period in December, a random sample of 190 closed cases from October 1996 to December 1997 were selected for review.

The auditor concluded that Pride successfully enforced all court ordered treatment and probation conditions, and that when conditions were not met, Pride properly filed violations with the court.

However, several recommendations were made to Pride regarding the information in its case files.

Pride should contain more victim information, especially with cases in which probationers have been ordered by courts not to have any contact with their victims, the audit said.

Hilf said they rely on the State Attorney's Office to give them victim information and that they include such information when directed to by the State Attorney's Office.

The audit also said Pride should include more probable cause affidavits, especially in cases involving violence, to alert probation officers to it and allow them to determine treatment for violent probationers.

Hilf said the affidavits have been included in their files since 1996.

The audit also said none of the case files reviewed contained residency or employment verification.

Another issue was how the records were maintained. More than 5,000 closed Pride cases from the selected time period were handled manually, the audit said.

Hilf said they have been looking for a good computer system, and that the one they selected should be in full operation by December.

Hilf said she thinks Pride performed well, but that they will ``consider very seriously'' the audit's recommendations

``I think our staff is second to none,'' she said. ``Our clients are the probationers. Our job is to get them through [probation) without throwing any rocks in their path...and make sure they don't come back.''